Leadership in Learning: Strategic Issues

The Task Force offers eight strategic areas in which members of the
University community should apply our Mission, Vision, and Principles:

Undergraduate Students and Programs

Graduate Studies

Research

Faculty Development

Institutional Planning and Restructuring

Staff and Administration

Community Relations, Western's Alumni, and Private Giving

Operating and Capital Budgets

In the text which follows, for each strategic area the Task Force
offers recommendations for changes in practices and policies which we
believe are important to realizing our Mission and Vision. Undergraduate
education, graduate studies, and research are the three broad areas of
University activity and the underpinning of Western's academic enterprise.
They are the raison d'être of the University and the heart of its capacity
to serve society and advance its cultural and economic goals. In a genuine
sense, undergraduate and graduate education and the vigorous pursuit of
discovery through research are ends in themselves within the context of
scholarly achievement. They are Western's academic foundations. Our
recommendations in the other five strategic areas can be seen as supporting
both our Mission and Vision and our objectives in the first three areas.

We affirm that Western needs to change if it is to realize its
Vision of scholarly leadership in Canada. Indeed, we noted above that this
is a document about change. We sometimes present data which show
unfavourable recent trends in Western's performance; we nonetheless believe
that all at Western should take great pride both in the traditions of
academic excellence and community service which have shaped the University,
and in our accomplishments during a period of extraordinary fiscal
difficulties. Our theme is that, while Western is an excellent university,
it must become even better.